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Wall Crusher
Wall Crusher is one of the many Unit Abilities available in Master of Magic. During a siege battle at an enemy Town surrounded by City Walls, a unit with Wall Crusher can target individual wall segments just as it would target enemy units. Any Melee Attack or Ranged Attack directed at such a wall segment carries the Wall Crusher property, which means that it stands some chance to reduce the targeted segment to rubble. This allows the unit to punch through walls, making holes for other units to move through. Destruction of wall sections also reduces cover for the town's defenders, making them easier to hit than before. Wall Crusher is a fairly common ability, possessed by exactly 14 different units. The majority of these units are Normal Units, particularly Catapults and various types of Engineers from different Races. A few Fantastic Creatures also possess this ability. There is no known way of adding Wall Crusher to a unit that does not already possess it. Description Towns of strategic importance are often surrounded by walls for their protection, causing problems for any assailant army that wishes to conquer the town. Walls restrict passage and give the defenders a place to hide, making it difficult to enter the town without high casualties. Thus, an attacker needs to consider the various means to get through such walls. Wall Crusher often represents a unit with a powerful attack that can breach straight through the wall itself (though sometimes it represents technical expertise in demolishing walls without brute force). A unit with Wall Crusher is thus vital for siege operations, at least when no other methods of getting through walls are available. Effect The Wall Crusher ability only comes into play when performing a siege battle at an enemy Town that's surrounded by City Walls. It does not come in handy in any other circumstances. A unit possessing Wall Crusher can target enemy wall sections just as it would target enemy units. This includes any of the 12 segments of the wall, skirting the 4x4 "Town Proper" area representing the town itself. When such an attack is ordered, whether it is a Melee Attack or a Ranged Attack, the attack has a certain chance (see below) to instantly turn the targeted wall segment into rubble. A destroyed wall section is passable to all units, as though it was not there. This allows units to enter the town through the new hole, instead of trying to come in through the (usually heavily-defended) gate section. Furthermore, any enemy unit hiding behind this particular wall section loses most or all of the protection that the wall provided prior to being destroyed. Destruction Chance An attack targeted at a wall section has a certain chance of destroying it, depending on the type of the attack itself. * A Melee Attack with Wall Crusher properties has exactly 50% chance of destroying the targeted wall section. * A Ranged Attack with Wall Crusher properties has exactly 25% chance of destroying the targeted wall section. The attack strength property of the Wall Crusher unit has no effect on this chance. Engineers, possessing weak attack scores, have as much chance to destroy a targeted wall section as a pair of powerful War Mammoths with very high attack scores. The chance depends entirely on the type of attack, not its strength. Additional damage properties and attack types are ignored. For example, a unit with a and still only gets 50% chance to destroy a wall section. Making a Hole The primary benefit of City Walls is that they block all units. Such units cannot move through a standing wall section, and cannot make Melee Attacks against any unit on the other side of a standing wall section. Walking units on both sides can only pass through one specific walls section - the gate - which is at the bottom corner of the wall. Thus, the defenders can concentrate on holding that point to prevent all enemies from coming through. When a targeted wall section is destroyed, it becomes a new hole. Any unit may pass and attack through this hole as though there was no wall there. If units can be sent through into the town, they nullify the defenders' advantage - instead of having to do tough combat with the defenders at the gate in order to gain access. The more holes you make, the more opportunities you have for getting units into the town without too much opposition. Note that all holes are automatically repaired as soon as the battle ends. Two consecutive battles in the same town will both start with a fully-repaired wall surrounding the town, even if the entire wall was destroyed with Wall Crusher (or other anti-wall effects) during the first battle. The only way to get rid of a wall is to demolish it outside of combat (through destructive spells or due to the town's owner actually selling off the City Walls for any reason). Reduction of Cover Units located directly behind a standing wall section normally receive at least some bonus to their score against enemy Ranged Attacks coming from outside the wall. This makes those defending units harder to kill from afar, and poses a problem for enemy armies relying on plenty of Ranged Attackers. The attacking army can try to solve this problem by destroying these wall sections (with Wall Crusher or other effects). A destroyed wall section still offers a small bonus to any unit hiding behind it, but much less than a standing wall section. It also no longer offers any bonuses to units hiding behind it. The table below shows the bonuses given to units hiding behind standing and destroyed wall sections: Attacking a Unit Behind a Wall A Wall Crusher unit can target individual wall sections, and sometimes there is an enemy unit directly behind the wall - taking cover. In this case, the Wall Crusher unit's attack is directed against the enemy unit - and also has a chance to destroy the wall section itself in the process. In other words, the Wall Crusher actually makes a normal attack against the targeted defending unit - with the normal damage process taking place - and in addition has a 50% or 25% chance (see above) of destroying the targeted wall section. It is currently unknown whether the defending unit enjoys the benefit of cover in this circumstance. Particularly interesting is whether or not the defending unit receives this bonus if the wall is indeed destroyed as part of the attack. This will require further research for confirmation. Units with Default Wall Crusher Exactly 14 different units in the game have Wall Crusher by default. 9 of these are Normal Units, and 5 are Fantastic Creatures. Normal Units Air Ship Catapult (from any Race) Beastmen Engineers Draconian Engineers * Dwarf Engineers High Men Engineers Klackon Engineers Orc Engineers War Mammoths * Draconian Engineers are not available in version 1.31. Fantastic Units Colossus Earth Elemental Fire Giant Stone Giant Storm Giant Note that all except the Earth Elemental, War Mammoths and Engineers possess a Ranged Attack that utilizes the Wall Crusher property as explained above. Acquiring Wall Crusher There is currently no known method of adding the Wall Crusher ability to any unit that does not already possess it by default. This is part of the reason why such units are so valuable when planning to assault an enemy town. Category:Abilities